


A Tower Playground.

by Thrasirshall



Category: Compilation of Final Fantasy VII
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-04-07
Updated: 2013-04-07
Packaged: 2017-12-07 20:08:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,447
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/752545
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Thrasirshall/pseuds/Thrasirshall
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Lazard meets Rufus and his mother in an elevator.<br/>They're not who he expected them to be.</p><p>This story, along with it's epilogue of sorts was inspired by an absolutely adorable doujinshi picture of child!Rufus dressed as a chocoboy. And somehow Lazard got in there.</p>
          </blockquote>





	1. Of Birthdays and Brothers.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lazard meets Rufus and his mother in an elevator.  
> They're not who he expected them to be.
> 
> This story, along with it's epilogue of sorts was inspired by an absolutely adorable doujinshi picture of child!Rufus dressed as a chocoboy. And somehow Lazard got in there.

Being so high above in the tower gave him the slightest thrill of power that he would never admit to feeling. However, such a thing was a ShinRa trait and he would not lower himself to such a level. 

But even so, Midagr was deceptive in its poisonous beauty, even with it sitting atop of suffering people.

It reminded Lazard of slaves, and perhaps he wasn’t too far from such a comparison. After all, he  _knew_ what living in poverty had been like.

The well-dressed young man shifted the files in his arms, holding one too many. Nonetheless, they were reports that needed to be read and sorted, and mission statements had to be issued to the Director of SOLDIER and the young General, and-

The elevator door pinged, and slid open. Lazard blinked - no one was there to step in. He shuffled the files again to elbow the button that closed the doors, until a four year old dressed like a chocoboy dashed in.

Lazard stepped back, blinking down at the child. He looked up, grinning and pointing his toy gun at the young man, and clicked it three times.

“Bang! You’re dead!” he joked.

“Rufus! Rufus come  _back_  here right now!” came a female voice, and just as the doors were about to close, an arm shot through and made them open again.

A blonde woman with vibrant green eyes squeezed through, and Rufus ran behind Lazard, laughing again.

“You weren’t fast enough mom!”

“I took my heels off and everything,” she rolled her eyes, panting a little, before giving a laugh, “You should’ve seen Veld’s face when I tossed them to him!”

Lazard regarded her coolly. Dressed in a fitted white suit, there stood Dominique ShinRa –  _wife_ of Hohenheim ShinRa.

And behind them, their spoilt little  _brat,_  Rufus.

She straightened, and let a breath, regarding Lazard with a nod before diving to grab Rufus, about to hit another floor button as high as he could reach. He let a squeal of laughter as she lifted him, “Gotcha!”

Lazard tried to keep his face pleasantly neutral, before the damned doors shut on him with a happy  _ding_ , and started to descend,  _away_ from the SOLDIER floor.

Great. Thanks to this  _harpy_  and her irritating spawn, he was going to be  _late_.

 

“Sorry, sorry – the whole tower is like one huge playground for him.” She smiled apologetically, and Rufus grumbled about always being stuck in the one place.

Lazard simply nodded, but otherwise made no effort to have any kind of conversation with her. He’d just get off at the next stop -

However, unable to help himself, he was hatefully drawing comparisons, and glaring bitterly at the oblivious five year old who was fiddling with the toy gun -  accepting his fate that he’d been caught.

 

“I hope I haven’t made you late, Mr…?” Dominique turned to Lazard, and he quickly forced a smile. 

“… Lazard, Mrs. ShinRa.”

Dominique smiled brightly, a genuine  _human_  smile, “Call me Dominique, Lazard. I hear enough formalities. Nice to meet you. I’d shake your hand, but your arms look quite full.”

“I have plenty of time, it’s fine.” He lied, the smile fixed to his face.

“Now now, I know the SOLDIER Director is an utter hardass on interns. I’ll speak to him,” She replied, and then looked at her son, “Say hello to Lazard, Rufus.”

The blond man blinked at the boy, and for some reason found himself a little surprised at how at ease the woman was with him. A person of her position wouldn’t be caught  _dead_ with a replaceable intern. And yet here she was, the wife of the most powerful man in the world in her stockings and holding her son as a real loving mother would. Considering her humble engineering background, the media spun a ‘wonderful’ tale of how Dominique Mikado and Hohenheim ShinRa were so similar in their ascension to riches.

She was not the stoic woman in the magazines with her head held high like some kind of fake royal as Lazard expected.  
The little boy looked up, and pointed his gun at Lazard with a grin, “Hi, Lazard. You can’t say hi back, you’re dead, remember?”

Lazard raised an eyebrow at the boy, unable to help but glare slightly. Rufus blinked, and lowered his toy as if he could feel Lazard’s hatred. He quickly looked back at his mother.

Lazard turned away a little _, That’s right, turn away you spoilt little bastard_.

 Dominique gave Rufus a reprimanding look, but the sting was taken out as she couldn’t resist a smile, “We’re going to be late in seeing your father now, you little villain.”

The sudden  _change_ in the child’s demeanour made Lazard pause, like all of the light and life just drained from the boy’s face in the polished window of the elevator. Lazard’s eyes glanced back to them. She had noticed his glare, but had chosen to say nothing.

“… Do we have to?” he asked quietly, and the woman cuddled him closer, using her forehead to lift the slightly oversized hat to look at Rufus.

“Of course, you’ll be six soon and we need to make sure he can come to your birthday party, remember?”

“Why would he come?” Rufus shrugged, attention solely on his toy, and Dominique tried, and failed, to hide the disappointment in her face.

“He’s your father, of course he’d come.” She glanced in embarrassment at Lazard, who stood very, very still and tried to look like part of the scenery.

“No he won’t.” Rufus shrugged, “He’s always busy. It’s fine.”

Being only five, Lazard had noted how Rufus seemed like it actually no longer bothered him, and a sudden sympathy crept up out of nowhere.  
Lazard didn’t  _like_ being wrong, but his assumptions of the two were so far off the mark that he couldn’t help but...

 “Well - ” she started, chewing her lip.

 “I want Veld to come. That’s all I want.” Rufus interrupted her, “I don’t want any presents. I just want Veld.”

 _The Director of the Turks?_ Lazard pondered.

“Not even a party?” she hummed, and Lazard wondered if she’d asked him this before, and the answer had remained the same.

Rufus shook his head. Dominique sighed a little, before looking at Lazard. 

“Lazard, come with me and I’ll get you clearance.” She jutted her chest up a little, “Rufus, swipe my card would you please, my arms are full of a certain chocoboy.”

Rufus’ lip quirked a bit, and he took out a card from her breast pocket. She walked to the buttons lining up the wall, and Rufus swiped the card before he keyed in a passcode. Had the situation not felt so incredibly awkward, it would’ve been cute.

And more then a little amusing that a five year old would have  _clearance_  to the top floors of the tower, even though he couldn’t even reach the buttons at his height.

“There’s no need, Mrs. ShinRa  - ” Lazard started, but Dominique just tilted her head at him, smiling.  
“It’s no trouble Lazard, we’ve bothered you enough. And it's Dominique - I'm not  _that_ old, yet.”  
Dominique suddenly reminded Lazard too much of his own mother, and it left an unpleasant twist in his stomach.

“I appreciate it.” He said, more genuine, “… I lied when I said I wasn’t late.”

“I know.” She grinned, “I figured you were annoyed. I would be as well.”

“… are you gonna get fired cause of me?” Rufus asked solemnly. The question took the young man by surprise, and he quickly shook his head.

“No, no, it, uh-”

“I can shoot him in the butt if you want.” Rufus offered, waving his toy weapon, “He’s not nice to anyone.”  
“Rufus!” Dominique chided, but tilted her head back and forth as she considered it, “… well I can’t really argue that point, but no shooting anyone in the ass!”

Lazard half-smiled, “Thanks, but your mom’s right.”

“But of course,” she joked, before putting Rufus’ hat on her head to fix the boy’s hair, until the elevator dinged again, “Ah, here we are. Follow me.”

What happened next was near comical. As Lazard witnessed his gruff, cantankerous old bastard of a boss only barely into a full-blown explosion at how late he was, the Director found himself being talked down to by a woman half his size, with the forgotten child’s hat on her head, and still only in her stockings.

While Rufus obediently stood next to Lazard, guilt had welled up in the young, glasses-wearing blond, and he looked down at Rufus. The boy blinked up at him and smiled.  
ShinRa or not, he was still only a kid. And thankfully, a kid who had  _one_ parent that loved him at least. Maybe there was some hope…  
Lazard wasn’t going to dwell on it. Rufus was hitting six. He wouldn’t be president for a long time yet.

That is, if Hohenheim would  _even_  give up the throne to his only legitimate heir.

From the sounds of it, Rufus would have to either fight for it, or never get it at all. He wondered briefly if he needed to even do anything, as the President seemed to be quite capable of destroying everything he had from the inside out.

  “… So, uh, you’re going to be six?” Lazard started.

“Yeah.” Rufus almost bounced, “How old are you?”

“I’m twenty-five.”  Lazard lied. Being tall helped with faking your age.

“You look younger.” Rufus hummed, and before Lazard could even  _feel_  alarmed, Dominique had appeared and scooped up the child.

 “Now, Lazard, I think we have that matter sorted.” She smiled, “Take care of yourself.”

“Thank you, Mrs. Shin – Dominique.” Lazard said quickly. Just as she nodded a goodbye and turned, Rufus sneakily tossed him his toy gun, pointing at Lazard’s boss. Lazard bit in a laugh as he quickly pocketed the thing, shaking his finger at the boy.

Then they disappeared back into the elevator, and the smile on his face melted.

_Don’t turn into our father. That’s all I ask of you._

  

His evening was, for the first time, blissfully peaceful to allow him to work on those reports without the Director breathing down his neck, but Lazard’s thoughts were anything  _but_.

Even when he had entertained the idea in his darker moments, Lazard couldn’t see himself having the willpower to throw Rufus and his mother out into the slums. In fact, he wasn’t even sure what he wanted, other then for Hohenheim to  _pay_ , when or even _how_

And Lazard felt disgusted with himself.

And that night going home, as the elevator descended, Lazard looked up where President ShinRa’s office was, unaware of the heated discussion between husband and wife…

 

Outside the tower, Lazard took the toy gun out of his pocket, and thought of a father not remembering birthdays, “Do you abandon everyone?”

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I took artistic license with Lazard's age because I don’t know if his age was stated in Crisis Core… He looks about 35 though to me, and he would of course lie about it.
> 
> I used the character Dominique Cross from one of (at the time) Squaresoft's old games 'The Bouncer' as she has an older brother called Dauragon C. Mikado who looks very like Rufus.  
> I figured Rufus would look more like either his mother or his uncle, since he doesn't resemble his father much.  
> I simply call her Dominique C. Mikado for the FFVII-verse.
> 
> Mikado is a corporation that was similar to ShinRa in The Bouncer, so I thought it was fitting.
> 
> Personally, I'm not fantastic at making believable OCs, so I decided to borrow characters from the other FF or Sqaure-Enix related games, I thought it was more fun that way.  
> The name 'Hohenheim' is Edward and Alphonse's father from Full Metal Alchemist. Ed's strained relationship with his father reminded me of Rufus and his own one, so... it sort of stuck. Plus it has several interesting meanings that I think suit President ShinRa pretty well.


	2. Love

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's easier to hate then to love. 
> 
> Rufus hated his father, but the feeling wasn't mutual. 
> 
> Sort-of sequel to 'Of Birthdays and Brothers' due to Chocoboy Rufus.

The large office was deathly silent. Not even the air conditioning was on, and the stench of blood was sickeningly thick. Gloved hands trailed along the immaculate desk, before removing them slowly when they reached the splatter of blood streaked across it.

Rufus’ face was an unreadable mask of stone as he drew close to President ShinRa’s body. The old man’s dead blue eyes were staring straight ahead at nothing; half his body slumped over the wide desk, arms outstretched. Blood dribbled from his lip.

Despite the clean stab, Masamune firmly stuck into the man’s spine, blood had pooled from underneath.  
It was one thing to be told over the phone that your father had been murdered, and then being referred to as _Mr. President,_ Rufus wondered if he was drunk or high. It wouldn’t have been the first time either to dream up such a thing. Being under house arrest left you with little else to do when Junon’s gears were running smoothly.  
But it didn’t feel like… like _this_ when he did dream up such a scene occurring. He’d felt victorious, empowered – sneering down at his useless remaining parent as the company swooped him in as their new, bold leader.

Instead, he felt… empty.

With Turk training built into him since he could walk, Rufus followed his father’s gaze, noticing that he seemed to be reaching for something before he’d died.  
Then he froze as he saw what President ShinRa was reaching for.  
Rufus’ eyes narrowed at the two picture frames. One was of him – four or five years old, and he had one of those silly chocoboy outfits on over his suit. He was looking up at the camera with a slight scowl, pushing the too-big gallon hat up with a toy gun.  
The other was a wedding photo of his parents.

 _  
How fake_.

Nonetheless, Rufus pondered briefly on who took the photo of him. He knew his mother had bought the outfit, and Veld or another Turk were usually the ones who had to traipse flights of stairs looking for him.

Rufus could not, for the life of him remember his father _ever_ taking a photo of him, nevermind allowing the child to even be behind the man’s desk.  
If it had been Veld or his mother, the blond pondered further as to why his father would even bother having such a photo on his _desk_. This horrible, oversized steel desk that served as the massive wall between the two ShinRa men for as long as Rufus could remember.

It was going to be the first thing to go.

The emptiness suddenly turned into anger, and Rufus swiped up the two frames none too gently, coat snapping sharply as he turned to walk out to the helipad. He had failed to notice Palmer regaining consciousness after fainting from witnessing President ShinRa’s murder.  
Wind billowed Rufus back, whistling painfully in his ears as he strode towards the edge of the building and hurled the frames into the starry black sky. Dark Nation, sitting patiently for her master, watched the scene with curious yellow eyes. 

“Stop pretending you _cared_.” Rufus hissed to no one, and wondered when his moment of glory would show.  
Instead, he held his breath as the frames fell through the air and out of his sight.

The company was his.  
That was all that mattered now. Nothing could stop him.  
Things would be _different_.

Fists shaking, the sound of a helicopter’s rotor jarred him from his thoughts, and he saw Reno in the pilot’s seat, looking concerned.A moment later, he turned to see that he had an audience, and Palmer was, somehow, still alive.

No matter, Rufus thought.  
The company was his now.  
_That_ was what was important.  


The picture frames hit the concrete and smashed into pieces, and no one heard it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To clarify something pointed out:
> 
> Dark Nation is still alive because Rufus only just meets AVALANCHE as Palmer comes out. The few minutes he had outside was when the group see that President ShinRa has died, Palmer tells them Sephiroth is still alive, and then escapes out to the helipad where Rufus is.
> 
> In my headcanon, Dark is still alive even after the fight between Rufus and Cloud, because there's an option where you don't have to attack her at all, just Rufus.  
> I like the idea that she would still be alive.

**Author's Note:**

> First and foremost - the conversation between Dominique and President ShinRa feels... unnecessary, but I liked it at the same time. Can people tell me what they think? Was it too much?  
> Edit: I cut it out. 
> 
> I used the character Dominique Cross from one of (at the time) Squaresoft's old games 'The Bouncer' as she has an older brother called Dauragon C. Mikado who looks very like Rufus.  
> I figured Rufus would look more like either his mother or his uncle, since he doesn't resemble his father much.  
> I simply call her Dominique C. Mikado for the FFVII-verse. 
> 
> Mikado is a corporation that was similar to ShinRa in The Bouncer, so I thought it was fitting.
> 
> Personally, I'm not fantastic at making believable OCs, so I decided to borrow characters from the other FF or Sqaure-Enix related games, I thought it was more fun that way.  
> The name 'Hohenheim' is Edward and Alphonse's father from Full Metal Alchemist. Ed's strained relationship with his father reminded me of Rufus and his own one, so... it sort of stuck. Plus it has several interesting meanings that I think suit President ShinRa pretty well.


End file.
